Clipping wings of middlemen is the key: Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil

Although the state government woke up late to the price-rise crisis, it is talking tough now regulating the market forces. Agriculture and marketing minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil is contemplating amendment in the existing rules to throw out middlemen from the system. Excerpts:

Why did the government wait for the prices to hit the roof?   
One should understand that the government does not intend to regulate the market forces. As soon as we realised that the prices of onions are going up, we took measures of importing from other states and Pakistan. This has resulted in prices coming down by nearly 40%. 

Has the stock imported arrived?
They have started arriving and hence the decrease in prices. We are getting nearly 1.40 lakh quintal onions from Pakistan and 50,000 quintals from other states. The ban on export has saved nearly 15,000 quintal onions. This will help us in maintaining the situation till the rabi season onions arrive in the market in first week of February next year.

You ordered raids on the hoarders…
The district collectors have been directed to conduct raids and take action against the hoarders. Onion is a perishable commodity with a life of a few weeks. Hoarding for long periods is not possible for any trader. 

Vegetables are still beyond the reach of the common man
The existing market mechanism does not allow us to control the market forces. There is no centralised purchase system of vegetable products, and it leads to keeping the market control in the hands of the middlemen working between farmers and traders. They decide the price that is to be given to the farmers and the selling price in various markets.

So, the government shrugs off its responsibility…
This has been happening for years now. We need to act strictly in the interest of the farmers and the consumer. If the middlemen are taking a major chunk of the trade at the cost of end users, these forces are needed to be thrown out of the system.

What does this mean?
We are thinking of introducing regulations in this market too. We want the auction system to be introduced in the vegetable sector. If the open auction system is introduced, the farmers will get fair prices for their produce. I have directed the officials from the marketing department to work out on modules to introduce a regulatory mechanism. We will amend the existing laws to empower the enforcing authorities. 

We are thinking of tying up with the consumer societies like Apna Bazaar to get the farm products directly to their outlets. We are
working out on the modalities for the same.

With lobbies and political pressure groups, don’t you think it would a tough task?
I know there are lobbies in the market and that they also have strong political connections. But it is time to act tough to protect the interests of the consumers. If these lobbies are proving to be hurdles in good governance, they will have to be shown their way. I know we will have to tread very cautiously while taking such steps. We can’t allow handful of traders and middlemen to exploit the consumers and the farmers.